Word Origin & History

charm c.1300, from O.Fr. charme "incantation," from L. carmen "song, verse, enchantment," from canere "to sing" (see chant), with dissimilation of -n- to -r- before -m-. The notion is of chanting or reciting verses of magical power. Sense of "pleasing quality" first recorded 1598. Meaning "small trinket fastened to a watch-chain, etc." first recorded 1865.

Example Sentences for charm

She was still looking at him with the charm of youthful inquiry in her eyes.

What city of the New World keeps so much of the charm of the Old?

A charm like that, she gave me to understand, I must by hook or by crook obtain.

The charm of Alfred Tennyson Starling's early lyrics was unmistakable.

But to my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that indefinable quality of charm found in such abundance elsewhere.

Yet they have, what is so curiously rare in English literature, the charm of reverie.

The charm of these marvellous lyrical episodes consists in their perfect simplicity and freedom.

It came upon her with all the charm of old time recollections.

She glided out from among the may-apples and the long, silken grass, to charm his horse with her hand.

Long accustomed to every variety of wilderness life, there was no novelty to charm them.